{"id":9067,"date":"2023-07-27T13:55:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=9067"},"modified":"2023-07-27T13:55:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:55:13","slug":"citizens-being-asked-to-forfeit-their-voting-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/27\/citizens-being-asked-to-forfeit-their-voting-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizens being asked to forfeit their Voting Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DemocracyIssues.com, an Ohio-based Voter Rights initiative<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ohio Issue 1 that is on the ballot for an August 8 Special Election is being
\nopposed by major Voter Rights organizations in the state. If Politicians who
\ncreated Issue 1 succeed, it will be almost impossible to pass most future
\ncitizen-led ballot issues.<\/p>\n

The result would be to take away the current right held by ordinary citizens
\nto initiate ballot issues that challenge and replace laws put in place by
\nanti-democratic or out of touch Politicians.<\/p>\n

One key provision of this anti-democratic legislation is to raise the
\nthreshold for voter passage of a citizen-led Constitutional Amendment from
\nthe current 50%, to instead, 60%.<\/p>\n

If it passes, Issue 1 will allow a minority of 40% of the voters to control
\nthe outcome of a citizen-led ballot issue supported by 60% of the voters.<\/p>\n

Ohio Politicians working to keep Unconstitutional Gerrymandered Election
\nDistricts<\/p>\n

Ohio Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) who is the primary sponsor of
\nHouse Joint Resolution 1(HJR1) that is the law authorizing Issue 1 explained
\nin a private letter to members of his political party the purpose for this
\nlegislation (Statehouse News Bureau-March 10, 2023).<\/p>\n

According to Stewart’s letter, one of Issue 1’s main objectives is to
\nprotect the Ohio GOP’s current practice of gerrymandering that has created
\nrigged election districts in the state and that guarantees the continued
\nreelection of a majority of GOP candidates in the future.<\/p>\n

Issue 1 is being put forward in spite of the overwhelming wishes of Ohio
\nvoters.<\/p>\n

In 2015, over 71% of Ohio voters approved The Ohio Bipartisan Redistricting
\nCommission Constitutional Amendment in order to end gerrymandered election
\ndistricts for all state of Ohio elections. (
\n<https:\/\/democracyissues.com\/ballotissuesattacked<\/a>>
\nhttps:\/\/democracyissues.com\/ballotissuesattacked<\/a>)<\/p>\n

In 2018, Ohio voters approved The Congressional Redistricting Procedures
\nAmendment for all federal contests in the state.<\/p>\n

For the 2022 midterm elections, in spite of the 2015 Constitutional
\nAmendment being in place in which voters overwhelmingly demanded that
\ndistricts for state elections be fair and nonpartisan, the Ohio
\nRedistricting Commission (ORC) repeatedly created gerrymandered distract
\nmaps that assured that the GOP would control the outcome of elections in a
\nlarge majority of the districts for years to come.<\/p>\n

And on five (5) separate occasions, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered that the
\n2022 gerrymandered district maps were unconstitutional and must be redrawn.
\nThese highly manipulated district maps deprive many voters of their right to
\nvote by rigging in advance the outcome of an election in favor of the
\npolitical party in control of setting up the maps.<\/p>\n

Each of the Court’s orders was ignored and with time running out until
\nElection Day, the Ohio Supreme Court permitted the use of a set of the
\ngerrymandered maps in the 2022 midterms.<\/p>\n

Independent Ohio Redistricting Commission<\/p>\n

Voting Rights organizations in Ohio are now examining a new Constitutional
\nAmendment to establish the Ohio Independent Redistricting Commission in
\norder to permanently end gerrymandering. \u00a0It will be similar to the new
\nMichigan Independent Redistricting Commission that has eliminated partisan
\ndistricts in that state.<\/p>\n

Issue 1’s 60% threshold for passage along with an almost impossible set of
\nsignature petition requirements were designed with the specific purpose and
\nintent of preventing a Constitutional Amendment for an Ohio Independent
\nRedistricting Commission that would end gerrymandering in the state.<\/p>\n

Issue 1 is critical in order for a small group of Ohio GOP Politicians to be
\nable to continue unconstitutional and anti-democratic gerrymandered election
\ndistricts that predetermine the outcome of future elections in the state
\neven before the first ballot is cast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By DemocracyIssues.com, an Ohio-based Voter Rights initiative Ohio Issue 1 that is on the ballot for an August 8 Special Election is being opposed by major Voter Rights organizations in the state. If Politicians who created Issue 1 succeed, it will be almost impossible to pass most future citizen-led ballot issues. The result would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[185],"class_list":["post-9067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9068,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067\/revisions\/9068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9067"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=9067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}